, 1887-03-15

of him that evening. / felt strange and
uneasy, as his sudden departure was in
explicablc.
When l reached home, l did not feel
like going to bed, and so as usual sat
down to my writing. From time to time
l got up and walked back and forth,
searching for the right word or expires
sion. Whenever 1 approached the win
dow | put my head out to see if there
was a light in Harry's room. Finally l
saw the CLEAN from his windows. l
waited a few minutes, as he always came
into my room at night after he had been
out, and his strange departure from the
theatre made me more certain that he
would be in at once. But when he did
not come, / concluded to go and find the
reason of it all. AS l stood in front of
his window on the balcony, several
shadows moved across the curtain. There
was something SO unusual in this that l
hesitated a moment, and then knocked
lightly on the window pane. No one APP
peared to hear. There was the sound Of
deep voices and heavy steps within. |
raped harder.
-'Wait a minutel'' called a strange
voice. And soon the curtain was. drawn
and the window raised.
The sight which met my eyes made me
gasp for breath for a moment, the shock
was SO strong.
Harry lay half undressed on the bed,
pale, apparently unconscious, with closed
eyes and yellow lips, slightly opened. He
drew in his breath with a gasp. His left
hand clutched at his heart, and on his
shirt were great patches of dark red.
At the head of the bed stood u cab
driver and beside him the janitor of the
building, who had opened the window.
The room was dimly lighted by u single
lamp.
in heavens name, what has hap
pened?'' 1 cried.
From the reports l learned that the
coachman had been stopped in Fifth ave-
nue. about a half an hour before and di-
rected to drive up to a certain house door.
There the gentleman now lying on tho
bed had come out, accompanied by two
men. One had wished to get into the
carriage with him, but had been refused.
The gentleman had given the street and
number himself, but in a very weak
voice, and ordered him to drive as care
fully as possible. When he stopped end
opened the carriage door the gentleman
was in a dead faint. He had aroused the
janitor and together they carried him up
stairs to his room, laid him in the bed and
removed some of his clothes.
$50 at once for q doctor and l will
wait here" l said to them as soon as l
learned these facts.
| looked at Harry after they had gone,
and tears came to my eyes at sight of his
white, motionless face. / took his hand
in mine and began to stroke it gently.
After awhile he opened his eyes, and
looked at me i'll bewilderment, then he
smiled and weakly pressed my hand. l
could not utter a word. Harry tried
several times to speak, but only succeeded
after several Intellectual efforts; and then
1 could scarcely distinguish the words:
Everything is all right have fixed
it." He closed his eyes; but after a mo-
ment gasped:
MY coat!'
l handed it to him. He tried to put
his hands into the pockets, but his strength
gave out and he shook his head and smiled
again family. 1 searched the pockets and
took out several articles, among them a
small folding leather card case. He took
this up as 1 laid it on the bed near his
hand and reached it toward me.
For you'll he murmured.
As / took it he smiled the same old,
hearty, tender smile.
AS l spread his coat out on n chair a
yellow rose fell from a ~buttonhole. l
picked it up a little startled, as l knew
Harry had not worn any flower the pre-
vious evening. When Harry noticed the
rose, he motioned me to give it to him.
He pressed it to his lips, and two great
tear drops rolled down his cheeks. His
arm fell down and he again sank into a
half unconscious state. His face twitched
as if with pain. His left hand lay across
his heart, and the fingers opened and
closed convulsively. Pretty soon he opened
his yes again n stared with a look of
feverish longing at one corner of the room.
l followed his glance.
Bring that, " he said, with an effort.
went to the spot indicated. There,
upon a little table, lay a board of mod
crate size, in the middle of which was a
slight elevation, covered with a damp
cloth-apparently an incomplete piece Of
modelling. Beside it lay a few simple
modelling tools.
l carried the board to the bedside.
do you mean this?" / asked.
Harry nodded. He tried to raise him
self and l lifted him up to a sitting posi-
ton. After / had done this he rested his
right hand, in which he still held the
rose. upon the cloth, and exerting all his
strength, pressed his fist down into the
yielding clay. l watched the soft earth
slowly creep out from beneath the cloth
edges under the pressure. As Harry no
ticed this he gave one strong push and
then fell back on the pillow. He did not
open his eyes again, nor did he speak.
He drew a few deep struggling gasps
and then all was still.
| sat some minutes staring at his pallid
face and hardly dared to breathe.
gave a great sigh of relief when the
sound of footsteps on the stairs broke the
spell by which l seemed bound. Iopened
the door in answer to a light rap.
Il am DIR. Van Horn" said an elder.,
man, us he entered the room and walked
briskly up to the bed. With quick, dex-
ferrous movements he cut away Harry's
shirt and laid his hand upon his breast.
Then lie beckoned to me to help him and
we laid the body OF my dead fri md down
from the sitting position.
Il have nothing to do but t. certify to
the death of this person" said the doctor
after he had arranged everything.
''Did he say anything?"
s.Onlv N few xyords